How to clean up a mess (like a designer)
If you read this newsletter, then you may recall that I moved house last week. And, if you’ve ever moved house before, I’m sure you’re aware of how expensive and back-pain inducing it can be.
Too much life admin. Too many things to buy. New routine to develop. AHHHHH.
Just when you’ve finished packing all the boxes, the unpacking and realisations of…
“I STILL have too much stuff.”
or
“Where does my favourite rug go? Do I really need to give up my vinyl record player so I have space for a lamp?”
begin. Yay!
To make this process a bit more enjoyable, I approached moving logistics like a design project. Through understanding your essential needs, future needs, constraints etc — you’ll be able to turn any messy situation around and make something better out of it.
How this applies to you…
SIMPLIFY to the essentials: A good designer is someone who proposes the simplest idea to get the same outcome that a more complex and expensive idea would get.
I.E: When packing I really reevaluated my posessions. What is the absolute bare minimum I could pack and send to my new flat? What do I no longer need for my new flat?
Future needs: “Good design” also involves understanding future needs of a product within a system. In my life, I view this as — how will I be using this new space differently than my old space? Once you have it down to the bare-minimum, what would add value to this new context?
I.E: The showerhead in my new flat is SUPER tiny, so I’ve ordered a new one. I didn’t need to do that in my old place, but here I know it will vastly improve my sanity.
Constraints: You can make the prettiest design in the world, but if it’s not possible for the engineers to build in-time, no one will care. My constraints for moving included: budget, less space, being by myself etc.
I.E: Through preplanning what the costs would be, and enlisting my boyfriend for help with assembling furniture, I was able to prevent future stresses from coming up later.
This week…
Whether you’re moving house, or tackling an overwhelming project, think about how you can strip things back, what challenges you might face, and what you might need in the future. Writing these things down helps me massively in both life and design projects — hope it helps you too!
Would love to hear how you get on — be sure to say hello over on LinkedIn and follow my newsletter HERE 👋
